Saturday, July 26, 2008

Cold Soups

When I was younger I never cared much for cold soups. The whole concept was simply beyond me. I remember being invited over to a friend's house for dinner as a teenager and being horrified when her mother served us cold tomato soup. Thankfully, my food preferences have changed and cold soups are now some of my staple dishes during summertime.

My favorite cold soup recipes come from Nava Atlas' cookbooks. If you're short on time, want something healthy to eat, and require lots of variation in your diet, I strongly recommend that you check out two of Nava's books, Vegan Express and Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet. In recent weeks I have made some of my favorite cold soup recipes from these books:

Cold Tomato and White Bean Soupfrom Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet

This soup is one of my all around favorite recipes. It takes less than 5 minutes to make, is fat free and Eat to Live friendly, and tastes absolutely delicious. You can see the recipe by clicking here. The recipe calls for stewed tomatoes but I use Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted tomatoes instead. I also use canned organic cannellini beans which have no salt added, or cook my own, as they taste much better than their non-organic counterparts.

Cool White Bean and Cucumber Soupfrom Vegan ExpressCucumbers, radishes, and dill combine to make this soup amazingly cool and refreshing, not to mention beautiful. I love the colors in this soup. Photos just can't do it justice.

Nearly Instant Thai Coconut Corn Soupfrom Vegan ExpressCreamy and delicious, this soup will satisfy you if you're palate is searching for something a little sweet and a little spicy. You can see the recipe by clicking here.

With all this talk of healthy soups, I must confess I have had a bit of a sweet tooth lately, so I'm ending this post on a very sweet and sugar sprinkled note. Ever since going vegan over two years ago I have managed to totally abstain from one of my favorite cookies: snickerdoodles. For whatever reason, my cravings got the best of me in recent weeks. Fortunately Celine at Have Cake Will Travel came to my rescue with a portion controlled recipe for Snickerdoodles, (click here for the recipe). Enjoy!